Saturday, 23 July 2016

We are NOT defined by our Instagram likes.

With the growth of social media over the last couple of years comes both the positives and negatives. Social media offers such great opportunities for not only businesses and reaching a wider audience but also to individuals who make their living from social media. But with that being said, we also see a much less positive side. Especially with the impact it has on people’s mental and emotional well-being. First we saw the introduction of facebook in 2004, then twitter in 2006 and now the most popular of all.. Instagram. And this is only the beginning, social media will continue to grow and take over the world. Does the number of likes you get on a social media post truly make you happy?There are many issues with instagram in relation to likes and the impact it can have on your mind and mental well-being. Our generation now see the number of likes as a validation of our self worth and the higher the number of likes the higher your status may be. How upsetting is this? Not only do we see the negative impact that those ‘perfect’ images can have on society but now we see people putting up images just to get the highest number of likes. Those post on ‘How to get the Perfect Instagram Selfie’ do not send out a good message in my opinion. Who cares how perfect our pictures are? Is it really not socially acceptable to upload a picture without using a filter? Now I’m not here to bash social media by any means, I absolutely love the whole concept of using social media in a positive and significant way, it amazes me how you can connect with various people in different parts of the world. Social media allows me to pursue my passion of blogging and having a positive and motivational impact on others. Social media should be used as a platform to connect with people and a way to show others the things that make you happy in life. As a means to express your thoughts, passions and creativity whether that is through art, photography, food or beauty. Your self worth is not defined by your social media presence, it is not defined by what other people say about you. Social media acts as a way for people to comment on other people's lives and to criticise them in a way that isn't beneficial to the person themselves. We as a society and a community should be encouraging each other and showing each other how much we matter. Not going out of our way and wasting the precious seconds we have spreading negativity and speaking badly of others for no other reason than because of their own insecurities and doubts. I have read countless of articles online about people having such strict regimes with their Instagram accounts,as when to post, what the caption will say and what I found most upsetting is the fact that they would delete a post if it didn't get over a few hundred likes.We should all be focusing on what makes us happy. What we can do everyday to show our real worth, our true characters and our passions. We should spend some time away from our phones embracing the beautiful world that surrounds us. Let's just cover our front cameras and embrace the moment, not thinking about how 'perfect' we must look.Instead, thinking of ways we can truly impact not only other people but the world that surrounds us in a positive and influential way. It’s important we grab every second of our lives and truly live it to the greatest of our ability. Go out there and live everyday pursuing your passions and leading a way which will get you where you want to be in life.So if you are thinking about uploading a picture to social media that has zero filters or with zero makeup on, just do it! If you want to do something which you are truly passionate about but you are worried about how others may react? Just do it! We care too much about what others may think about us or say about us, whether that may be in real life or online. But what really matters is how we feel and what makes us unique and happy. We are all perfect, we are all beautiful, we are all destined for something great.Hope you enjoyed this more honest and personal blog post,

16 comments:

We've become consumed by social media. I agree that it has amazing benefits but it also has many problems which you've excelently highlighted. I'm interested and excited to see what the future holds for social media. A great post! Tommy - www.tommyjoseph.co.uk

I had a couple weeks earlier in the year where I was instagram 'likes' consumed, if my post didnt get that many likes I found myself sad and upset. We have definitely been consumed by social media but it shouldnt define who we are

Great post! I'm not bothered by how many likes my photos get, but I think I'm lucky that I've reached a time in my life when I'm more self-assured. I was a lot less self-confident in my teens and twenties, so it's probably good that social media wasn't a thing then!

I absolutely love this post. Totally agree that we shouldn't base our happiness on 'likes', theres so much more to people than that and we can get a little desensitised through all of these airbrushed Instagrams. Social media is a blessing and a curse!

This is exactly why Snapchat is my current favourite platform! It's much harder to make yourself look perfect one there and there's no like buttons or anything like that so you can't really tell what people think about what you're sharing on there. It feels very old school!

CHELSEA O'CONNOR

Rouxella Beauty. I blog about all things beauty and fashion related, I have recently ventured out into the area of lifestyle in relation to healthy recipe ideas and blogpost motivating reader's, I am looking forward to sharing ideas and things that I have found to help me on my healthy lifestyle journey.